Many automotive accessories, such as hood deflectors (also referred to as hood protectors, bug shields, bug deflectors, wind deflectors and the like), side window visors (or vent visors) and rear hatch air deflectors, require mounting to a wide range of motor vehicles, such as passenger automobiles, trucks, sport-utility vehicles (“SUV”), recreational vehicles (“RV”) and the like (sometimes also referred to collectively as “cars” or “automobiles”). Aesthetic purposes aside, these deflectors generally function to deflect wind, bugs, stones or other like items away from the vehicle to help avoid chipping or denting of the paint surface or damage to windows and other body elements. Window visors also help draw air out of partially open side windows. To describe the various accessory mounting options currently available, vehicle hood deflectors are a good choice for illustrative purposes. It is noted that protectors made of fabric, such as “hood bras”, are not at issue herein.
Although many different designs of non-fabric hood deflectors are available for mounting to various car models, they are commonly made of a planar sheet of plastic or like hard material. There are two basic configurations of hood deflectors. In a first version the main body of the protector extends transversely the width of the hood and longitudinally past (i.e. forward of ) the hood's leading, or free, edge and contours downwardly and rearwardly (or backward) under the leading edge to form a mounting tab or lip generally extending the width of the hood. A series of transversely spaced holes are provided along the mounting tab to accept screws, expansion plugs or other like hardware for mounting into either existing holes beneath the leading edge of the hood or holes drilled by an installer. This system is suited to vehicles having adequate clearance between the hood's leading edge and the top of the radiator grill and headlights to accommodate the mounting tab. A variant of this system provides for the use of two-sided tape or hook and loop material to fasten the mounting tab to the underside of the hood, either with or without additional mechanical assistance.
The second version of hood deflector is similar in structure to the first version but is suited to vehicles where there is adequate clearance between the hood and the grill to accept the deflector's mounting tab, but inadequate clearance between the hood and the tops of the headlights to fit the tab. Hence, in the second version the mounting tab is omitted from the transverse ends or outer portions of the deflector which extend over and past (or behind) the headlights. Typically 8 to 30 inches (about 20 to 75 cm) of each transverse or outer end of the deflector lacks the support of a mounting tab, and so is susceptible to vibration, fluttering and the like during driving. Hence, these transverse portions are provided with some other form of tabs or “end clips” to hold them to the leading edge of the hood.
The existing end clip designs suffer from several disadvantages. Some of the existing clips require a screw or small bolt to extend from above the outside surface of the deflector, thus exposing the head of the screw or bolt or the nut on top of the deflector. This is visually undesirable due to the protrusion of the bulbous screw head and exposure of the screwdriver slots in the screw head. The metal screws are prone to rusting or oxidation, and any protective coatings often peel, chip or discolor.
A second prior art design in use today provides an E-shaped clip forming two channels. The lower channel inserts onto the leading edge of the hood and the other (upper) channels inserts onto the outer portion of the protector. This design is visually undesirable because the top portion of the clip, which is a fairly good sized piece of black nylon or like plastic, and the spine of the clip which extends down and over the leading edge of the hood are clearly visible and disrupt the visual contour of the deflector. The design is also functionally undesirable since some variants employ screws to increase clamping forces, with the resultant disadvantages noted earlier. The clip may also release from the deflector and/or hood due to the wind induced movement and leverage of the deflector during use, or in environments such as car washes.
A third prior art design that no longer enjoys much use is a narrow (i.e. 1 to 2 inch, or 2.5-5 cm) “mini” tab integral with the deflector which wraps under the leading edge of the hood over a headlight. Apart from the same clearance issue noted earlier, this design is prone to breakage from stress concentrations encountered during use. Once such tab is broken, the entire deflector is “scrap” and should be replaced. The visual impact of such tabs, although less obtrusive from the top as the two earlier noted designs, is nonetheless undesirable since the tabs extend forwardly of the edge of the deflector's outer ends and is visually “bulky” and “messy”.
What is therefore desired is a novel retaining clip which overcomes the limitations and disadvantages of the existing clips and tabs.